Banco Popular sees orders for 11 pct of rights issue on debut

MADRID Nov 14 (Reuters) - Spain's Banco Popular
received orders for 11 percent of a 2.5-billion-euro ($3.2
billion) rights issue on its first day, the bank said on
Wednesday.

The rights issue was an attempt by the bank to avoid seeking
state aid after an independent audit of Spanish banks found it
needed an extra 3.2 billion euros to weather a serious economic
downturn.

The bank's shares rose 3 percent on Wednesday, not counting
the subscription rights, to 0.579 euros a share. The rights
closed at 0.468 euros.

The lender offered three new shares at 0.401 euros for every
existing share in the rights issue.

The new shares were offered at a 64 percent discount to a
closing price of 1.118 euros on Friday, the day before
shareholders approved the capital hike, steeper than the 55
percent discount that analysts had expected.